Slip-type elevator



March 10, 1931. N K, s'MlTH 1,795,578

SLIP TYPE ELEVATOR Filed April 8, 1929 5 Sheets-Sheet 1 March 10, 1931. N K SMITH 1,795,578

SLI P TYPE ELEVATOR March 10, 1931. Q M T 1,795,578

SLIP TYPE ELEVATOR Filed April 8. 1929 5 Sheets-Sheet ,5

March 10, 1931. N. K. SMITH SLIP TYPE ELEVATOR Filed April 8, 1929 5 Sheets-Sheet 4 gwuentoo Elma a March 10, 1931.

N. K. SMITH SLIP TYPE ELEVATOR Filed April 8. 12329 5 Sheets-Sheet 5 gwuawtoz fix Huan 1 enema Mar. 10, 1931 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE NELSON x. 81mm, or nos menus, canronum, assrenoa 'I'O BYRON ucxsou 00.,

or sun mucrsoo, camomvm, aeonromrron or nmwm SLIP-TYPE ELEVATOR Application filed April. 8,

This invention relates to elevators of the type employed in elevating and lowering casing, well tubing and the like, and it relates more particularly to the type of elevator having a pair of hingedly connected jaws, and

slips in the jaws for gripping the casing or tubing. The-matter divided out of this case is the subject of my co-pending application, Serial No. 469,114, filed July 19, 1930.

In this type of elevator, because of the provision of slips, the weight of the sus nded casing or tubing is translated into a ateral thrust and", 'since several thousand feet of casing or tubing are sometimes suspended from the elevator, this lateral thrust becomes exceedingly great. It follows that the jaws-must be of great strength and that the means for holding the jaws closed together must be so constructed that they will resist the lateral pressure tending to open them. Accordingly, one of the principal objects of 7 this invention is to construct the jaws and their latching means in a manner to secure the desired strength.

Since the jaws of elevators of this type must be unlatched, opened, and latched very quickly, another very important object is simplicity of construction and operation.

left in a condition in which the weight of the suspended load can force the jaws open. Another object; is to provide for manual operationof'oneof the slips from a yieldingly held retracted position into osition for 1 engaging the casing'or drill-p pe, thus to any facilitate gripping of the casing or pipe at oint desired.

Ot er objects and advantages will appear in the sub-joined detailed description.

1929. Serial No. 853,419.

The accompanying drawings illustrate the mvention.

Figure lis a side elevation of a slip-type elevator constructed in accordance'with the provisions of this invention.

Figure 2 is an enlarged plan view of Figure 1, the bail being in section.

Figure 3 is a front elevation of F i re 2, fragments only of the bailbeing indi cated in broken lines.

Figure 4 is an elevation of Figure 3 from the right thereof.

Figure 5 is a vertical section on line indicated by 55, Figure 2.

Figure 6 is a horizontal section on line indicated by 6-6, Figure 3. The slips are omitted.

- Figure 7 is a vertical section on line indicated by 7-7, Figure 6.

Figure 8 is a vertical section on the line indicated by 88, Figures 2 and 6.

FigureQ is a vertical section on the line indicated by 9-9, Figure 2. I

Figure 10 is a plan view of one of the jaws. 76

Figure 11 is a front elevation of Figure 10. Figure 12 is a sectional view similar to Fig. 5 of a modified construction for yieldingly supporting the slips and for yieldingly forcing said slips upwardly and outwardly.

Referring to the drawings, there are provided a pair of jaws 16,17 which are-hingedly connected by hinge pin 18 that passesthrough hinge knuckles 19 provided on jaws v16, 17, said hinge knuckles mterfitting.

The jaw 16 constitutes the main body of the elevator, and, accordingly, is rovided at its opposite ends with suspension ugs 20.

A pfane connecting the axes of the lugs 20 I is slightly the pm 18.

The jaw, 17 constitutes the gate of the elevator. When the jaws are closed, the inner semicircular faces 21, 22 of the jaws together offset with respect to the axis of define a practically cylindrical opening 23,

the axis .of which is midway between the suspension lugs 20, and is in a plane that passes through the axes of said lugs 20. Thus,

when the elevator is supported by the bail, indicated at 24 and connected with the lugs 20,-the elevator will be in perfectbalance whenthe casing or pipe is clamped in the jaws of the elevator. The jaw faces 21, 22 slope inwardly and downwardly, thus making the opening 23 conical in shape. Within the opening 23 are disposed a number of slips 25, there being, in this instance, four of said slips. Two of the slips are mounted on the face 21 and the other two on the face 22. The slips 25 are wedge-shaped, the outer faces thereof extending aslant downwardly and inwardly so asto substantially fit the faces 21, 22, when the inner faces of the slips are substantially vertical. Said inner faces of the slips are preferably serrated horizontally, as indicated at 26, thus to provide excellent gripping faces for firmly engaging the casing or other tubular member that is to be gripped by the elevator.

The slips 25 are loosely connected with the jaws and, furthermore, are yieldingly supported on said jaws by coil springs 27, there being one spring for each slip. The springs 27 are accommodated in recesses 28 in the inner faces of the jaws, and the lower ends of said springs seat against the bottom walls of the recesses 31, as clearly shown in Figure 9. The springs 27 surround pins 29 which are disposed aslant with their lower ends engaging sockets 30 in thebottom walls 31 of the recesses 28. The upper portions of the pins 29 are threaded at 32 and are vscrewed through the upper walls 33 of the recesses 28. he pins are provided above the walls 33 with heads 34 adapted for engagement ,by a wrench, Thus the pins 29 constitute a special form of cap screw.

The pins 29 pass through holes 35 in lugs 36 that project from the outer faces of the slips near the upper ends of said slips into the upper ends of the recesses 28. The holes 35 are materiall larger than the pins 29 so as to permit 0 inward movement of the slips, and the lugs 36 rest upon the upper ends of the springs 27. Thus, the springs 27 function to yieldin ly urge the slips upwardly and outward, until the upper faces of the lugs 36 engage the under faces 6f the upper walls 33 of the recesses 28.

To yieldingly urge the.lower ends of the slips 25 inwardly, there are provided coil sprin 37 housed'in recesses 38 in the jaws.

.In this instance, the springs 37 do not act directly against the slips but they surround plungers 39, the heads 40 of which engage the outer faces of the slipsnear the lower ends thereof. The plungers 39 are substantially horizontally positioned, thus to bear against the slips approximately at right angles thereto, and said plungers 39- project outwardly through holes 41 and are provided on their outer projecting ends with heads 42 adapted to engage the outer faces of the V aws to limit inward movement I of. the

plunger heads 40.

The springs. 27 constitute one form of spring means for yieldingly sup orting the slips and yieldingly forcing sai slips upwardly and outwardly, and the springs 37 and plungers 39 together constitute one form of spring means for yieldingly forcing the lower ends of the slips inwardly. Thus the springs 27, 37 and plungers 39 together constitute one form of means for forcing the lower portions of the plungers upwardly and inwardly.

The upper ends of the slips 25 are provided with hook-shaped handles 43 for convenience in assembling and disassembling the slips.

There is preferably provided a means for manually forcing at least one of the slips downwardly against the pressure of its spring 27, and this means is best shown in Figure 5 and is constructed as follows:

In alignment with one of the slips 25 is mounted a lever 44, the fulcrum pin of said lever being indicated at 45, and being positioned horizontally and supported at its outer ends in ears 46 that project upwardly from one of the jaws, the jaw 17 in this instance. The pin 45 passes through a fork 47 of the lever 44, and said fork straddles the handle 43 of the slip. Preferably, the lever 44 extends aslant outwardly and downwardly and, in this instance, is curved so that the outer end of said lever is disposed rather close to the outer face of the associated jaw. The inner end of the lever 44 curves inwardly and downwardly as indicated at 48, so that the end of the fork 47 is engageable with the upper face of the slip on opposite sides of the handle 43. Thus, an outward pull on the outer end of the lever 44 urges the slip 25 downwardly against the upwardly exterted force of the sprin 27. When the slip is thus forced downwardTy, it is not only yieldingly urged inwardly at its lower end by the spring 37, but said lower end as well as the upper end of the slip are positively urged inwardly by reason of the cooperating slanting faces of the jaw and slip. Thus the lever 44 constitutes one form of means for positively urging one'of the slips 25 into engagement with the casing or other tubular member that is between the jaws of the elevator. 1

I prefer that, when the lever 44 is operated to'force the associated sli downwardly, the remaining slips, also, be orced downwardly against the upward pressure of their actuatmg spring means and, accordingly, to secure this result there are rovided suitable means to loosely connect the slips to one another and, in this instance, these means are constructed as follows: One endof each slip is provided with a recess 78 and the opposite ,end with a horizontally projecting lug 79 slip, through the means 78, 7 9 forces down wardly and inwardly the slips on either side of it and these slips, in turn, through the means 78, 79 force downwardly and inwardly the remaining slip.

Because of the wedging action of the slips when the load comes upon them, the vertical thrust of the load carried by the elevator is translated into a severe lateral thrust tending to force the jaws apart, and in an elevator of this type, that is, one that employs slips and a door, it is important that the ele vator door be securely held against opening, and accordingly, it is well to reinforce the primary latching means with a secondary latching means and even with a third latching means. The construction employed by me not only insures against accidental opening of the door of the elevator, but the construction is such that said door is actually reinforced so that the outward thrust against the door is borne to a large extent by the latching means. The latching means I prefer to employ at present are constructed as follows:

The end of the jaw 16 that is opposite the hinge pin 18 is provided with a pair of spaced lugs, an upper lug 49 and. a lower lug 50, and the jaw 17 is provided at its'free end with a ortion 51 that extends past the inner faces 0 the lugs 49, 50 and substantially meets the adjacent innerfacegof the aw 16. The jaw 17 is provided with an outwardly extending latching lug 52 that,,when said jaw 17 is closed, lies immediately in front of the upper.

lug 49. The construction of the latching means is best illustrated in Figures 6, 7 and 8. The lug 52 is adapted to project between the spaced arms 53 of a latch member 54,

which is pivotally connected to the jaw 16 by a pin 55 passing through one end of the latch member 54 and into the lugs 49, 50, the arms 53 of the latch member 54 being disposed, one above and one below the lug 49, as

'clearly shown in Figure 7. Thus the latch member. 54 is U shaped and straddles the lug 49;

' The latch'member 54 does not directly engage the lug 52 of the jaw 17, but said latch member 54 carries a vertically positioned pin 56 which pivots a second latch member 57 provided with "a lug 58 adjacent to the pivot 56, the position of the lug 58 being such that when the latch member 57 is" in closed position, as shown in Fi ure 6, the lug 58 engages the lug 52. 'The ace 59 of the lug 52 is curved, and the face 60- 011 the lug- 58 constitutesac'am face that, when the latch member 57 is swung into closed position, .wedgedly forcesthe lug 52 toward the pin 55,;thus to wedge the jaw 17 into fully closed'position. The lug 58 is positioned so that the outward thrust upon the jaw 17 tends to rotate the latch member 57 inwardly toward said jaw 17, thus insuring a ainst any-outward pressure of the jaw 17 orcing the latch member scribed. The latch member 54 is provided substantially in a plane that passes through the axis of the pivots 55, 56 with a handle 61 and the latch member 57 is provided with a handle 62. g

The latch member 57 may itself be latched in retracted or open position so that it will not accidentally swing closed and the means relied upon at present to accomplish this is constructed as follows:

A spring-operated detent 63 is provided in the latch member 54, the spring being indicated at 64. The detent 63 is adapted to engage in a detent seat 65 when the latch member 57 is in the open or retracted position. The latch member 57 may be latched in closed or latching position and, in this instance, two distinct latch means are provided for this purpose, and one of these latch means is constructed as follows:

The latch member 57 is provided on that face which is turned inwardly, when said latch member is closed, with a shoulder 66 adapted to cooperate with a shoulder 67 on the'outer face of the jaw 17 so that when outward thrust occurs on the jaw 17, the

shoulder 67 willengage under the shoulder 66 and thus lock the latch member 57 against swinging outwardly.

The second latching means for the latch member 57 may comprise a latch member 68 pivoted at 69 within a recess 70 of the jaw 17. A coilspring 71 between the jaw 17 and latch member 68 urgesthe latch member 68 toward the latch member 67 so that, when the latch member 67 is in its closed position with the shoulders 66, 67 juxtaposed, a lug 72 on the free end of the latch member 57 is received in a recess 73 of the vators in connection with well casing, drill pipe and pump tubing'is too well understood in this art to make it-necessary to describe ,the operation of this invention in relation to the elevators suspension and raising and lowering tackle, and the various operations pergtm'med by the use of this invention.

However, in brief, the actual operation of the elevator is as follows: Assuming that the elevator is closed on a tubular member a with all of the latchmembers closed, as shown in Figure 6, and assuming that it is desired to open the door of the elevator so as to admit of the elevator being removed from the tubular member, the

operator will grasp the handle 75 of the latching member 68 and retract the same, thus causing the latch member 68 to engage the latch member 57 adjacent to the shoulder 66, thus forcing 'the latch member 57 clockwise in Figure 6. The operator grasps the handle 62 and continues to rotate the latch member 57 clockwise to rotate the cam face 60 out of engagement with the lugface 59. As soon as this has been accomplished, the operator grasps the handle 61 and swings the latch member 54 clockwise, thus moving the lug 58 out of the path of movement of the lug 52. The operator then pulls on the handle 75 to swing the gate open. Assuming that the parts are in open position and that it is desired to place the elevator on a string of easing or pipe, the elevator will be swung into a position to receive the casing within the jaw 16, and the operator will then grasp the handle and swing the jaw 17 into closed position. It is to be understood that twelve and fourteen inch casings are not uncommon and that elevators to handle such size of casing arc of relatively large dimensions, and the parts involved accordingly of great weight. Accordingly, it is important that elevators made for handling such casings be constructed so that they can be readily and safely operated by one man.

When the jaw 17 has been closed, the slips 25 will all be in their raised positions with the lower ends of said slips pushed inwardly by the springs 37 so that the lower ends of said slips will be quite close to the tubular mem ber a. The latch member 57 being approximately aligned with the latch member 54, or

even rotated clockwise from thealigned position, the operator grasps the handle 61 and swings the latch member 54 counterclockwise into position to enter the lug 52 into the space between the arms 53 of the latch member 54,

and he then grasps the handle 62 and swings the latch member 57 counterclockwise so as to cause the cam face 60 to slide upon the lug face 59, thus wedging the jaw 17 inwardly toward the tubular member. He continues to thrust the'latch member 57 inwardly until its shoulder 66 is back of the shoulder 67 with respect to the axis of the pin 56, upon which axis the latch member 57 swings.

latch member 57 inwardly into its latched position, the lug 72 thrusts the latch member 68 to the right, in Figure 6, sufiiciently to admit of the lug 72 entering the recess 73 behind the recess wall 74. i

It will be seen from the foregoing that the jaws 16, 17 are latched to each other by engagementof the faces 59, 60 and that outward thrust upon the jaw 17 will cause the shoul- In thrusting the ders, 66, 67 to engage to thus retain the latch member 57 in its latched position, and, furthermore, that the latch member 68 further holds the latch member 57 in latched position.

' After the latches have thus been moved into latching positions, the operator grasps the outer end of the lever 44 and pulls outwardly and upwardly on said leverso as to depress the slip 25 that is associated with said lever and also the remaining slips. This depression of the slips 25 causes them to be thrust inwardly into engagement with the tubular member a. The elevator will now be raised sufficiently to tightly set all of the slips, the downward drag of the tubular member on the 'elevated slips holding said slips against upward motion while the jaws are ascending, thus wedging the slips inwardly into firm engagement with the tubular memberso as to support the weight of thesame when the elevator is fully raised.

When raising of the elevator thus imposes the load thereon, the jaw 17 thrusts against the cam face 60 at such an angle as to tend to i more, the latch wall 74 extends into the path of the of opening movement of the tip latch member 57, and the detent 63 yieldingly holds the latch member 57 closed or locked. vThus the latch members 54, 57 constitute one form of means to directly lock the jaws 16, 17 together, while the detent 63, shoulders 66, 67' and latch member 68 constitute a triple latching'means for retaining the latch member 57 in latching position. It should be particularly noted that the faces 58, 59 and shoulders 66, 67 constitute a two- .point engagement between the jaw 17 and the latch member 57.

In Fig. 12', the elements that functionally correspond with those above described are indicated by the same reference characters with the addition of the suffix a. In this construction there is no spring means to urge the lower'end of the slip 25a inwardly, but the pin 29a projects below the bottom wall 31a of the recess 28a and through a lug or car 76,

the hole 77 in the lug 76 being sufiiciently larger than the pin 29a to permit of horizontal movement of the lug 76 on'the pin 29a so that when horizontal thrust comes on the slip the inner semicircular face of the jaw will receive the thrust and not the pin 29a.

.I claim:

1. A slip type elevator comprising, a

body,- a gate, a means to releasably secure the gate in.closed position, the inner faces of the body and gate being approximately semicircular and downwardly and inwardly tapered,-slips, the outer. faces of the slips tapered to respectively fit the tapered faces of the body and gate, a spring means in the body and gate yieldingly forcing the lower ends of the slips upwardly and inwardly andthe upper ends of said slips upwardly and outwardly.

2. A slip type elevator comprising, a body, a gate, a means to releasably secure the gate in closed position, the inner faces of the body of the gate being approximately semicircular and downwardly and inwardly tapered, slips, the outer faces of the slips tapered to respectively fit-the tapered faces of the body and gate, a spring means urging each of the slips upwardly, and a spring means urging the lower end of each of the slips inwardly.

3. A slip type elevator comprising, a body, a gate, a means to releasably secure the gate in closed position, the inner faces of the body and gate being approximately semicircular and downwardly and inwardly tapered, slips, the outer faces of the slips tapered to respectively fit the tapered faces of the body and gate, spring means tending to elevate each of the slips, and a manually controlled member bearing upon thev upper end of one of the slips.

4. A slip type elevator comprising, jaws, a means to releasably secure the: jaws in closed position, the inner .faces of the jaws being approximatelv semicircular and down-:. wardly. and inwardly. slips, the outer faces of the slips tapered to respectively fitthe tapered faces of the jaws, a spring means urging each of the slips upwardly, and a lever means pivotally mounted on one; of the jaws engaging one of the slips to depress the same. e

,5. A slip type elevator comprising, jaws, a means to releasably secure the jaws in closed position, the inner faces of the jaws being approximately semicircular and downward- I ly and inwardly tapered, slips, the outer faces ofthe slips tapered to respectively fit the tapered faces of the jaws, a spring means tending to urge each of the slips inwardly, and a means operablv mounted on one of the-jaws and engageable with one of the slips to depress said slip.

6. A slip type elevator comprisinga jaw. a

gate, a means to releasably securethe gate in closed position, the inner faces of the jaw and gate being approximatelvsemi-circular and downwardly and inwardly tapered, slips, the outer faces of the slips tapered to respectively fit the tapered faces of the jaw and gate. spring means tending'to move each ofthe slipsinwardly, and a manually controlled member bearing upon the upper end of one of the slips. T

8th day of March, 1929.

means to releasably secure the jaws in closed 7 position, the inner faces of the jaws being approximately semi-circular and downwardly and inwardly tapered, slips, the outer faces of the slips tapered to respectively fit the tapered faces of the jaws, a spring means urging each of the slips inwardly, and a lever means pivotally mounted on one of the jaws en aging one of the slips to de ress the same.

igned at Los Angeles, alifornia, this NELSON K. SMITH.

i no 

